Register for water-meters, &amp;c.



w. L. MARDEN.

REGISTER FOR WATER METERS, &c. APPLICATION'FILED SEPT. 30, 1920.

1,397,534. Patented NOV. 22, 1921.

IN l/E IV 70/? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

WILLIAM L. MARDEN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR '10 NEPTUNE METER COM- PANY, OF NEW YORK, Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

REGISTER FOR WATER-METERS, &c.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Nov. 22, 1921.

.Applieation filed September 30, 1920. Serial No. 413,777.

l a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, of the city of New York, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Registers for Water-Meters, &c., of

'which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart hereof.

This invention relates to registers for use in connection with water meters and for other like purposes in which the actuating means operate through a clock train, pointem or indicators usually being carried by the shafts or certain of the shafts of the clock train for cooperation with dials depicted on the dial plate. The shafts of the clock train are usually mounted in parallel plates of metal which are held in proper spaced relation by posts and screws, while the dial plate, usually enameled and therefore expensive and also liable to fracture of the enamel by pressure, is secured by screws to one of the gear. supporting plates. The number of screws and nuts required, with the coacting threaded parts, makes the total number of parts which enter into the construction of the supporting frame very large and somewhat expensive and also makes the labor of assembling considerable. It is the object of this invention to improve the construction of the supporting frame of the gear train in such a manner as to reduce very largely the number of parts re uired, to reduce the cost of production 0 such parts and to facilitate the work of assembling the clock train and the frame, as well as toprovide means for holding the enam: eled dial plate in position which shall avoid the danger of fracture of the enamel by the pressure of screw heads. The invention will be more fully explained hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing in which it is illustrated and in which Figure'l is a view partly in vertical central section and artly in elevation showing the upper part of a water meter of ordinary construction with the clock train of the register supported in a frame which embodies on the planes indicated by the broken lines 3-3 and 44 respectively of Fig. 2, but on a larger scale.

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are views showing details of construction to be described.

The upper part of the frame or casing ofa water meter of ordinary construction and operation is indicated at a in Fig. 1 and on this is mounted the casing b which incloses the clock train 0, by which the pointers or indicators (1', d etc., are driven in relation to the dials which are depicted in the usual manner on the enameled dial plate e. The clock train 0 comprises as usual a primary shaft 0, through which motion is imparted to the clock train from the source of movement, secondary shafts c 0 etc., and c0- operatmg gears and pinions 0 Each of the shafts 0', 0 etc., carries a corresponding pointer d, d etc. The clock train is supported between parallel plates f and g which are held in spaced relation by the devices to be described. As shown, posts it, shouldered at each end, are riveted into one of the plates, as g, and at the other end are extended slightly beyond the plate f and headed. as at k, to receive a slotted disklike friction clip 71. By these devices the two plates f and 9 are held securely in spaced relation without the use of screws.

The primary shaft 0' is mounted in elongated bushings, of any suitable material, sush as hard rubber, fitted snugly in the plates 1" and g. The several shafts c, 0 etc., are mbunted in bushings in the two plates 7 and g in the same manner and the bushings are retained in place in the two plates f and g in the same manner, so that illustration of the relation of the bushings to one of the plates, as f, and of the means for retaining the bushings in place in that plate, will sufiice for both. Therefore only the elon ated bushing f in the plate f is shown. Each plate, as f, is formed with a seat, as at f, to receive a bushing, as F, of any suitable material, such as hard rubber, the seat being countersunk so that the bushing can be introduced or removed from one side only.

To retain all of the bushings f -in their respective seats 7, the bushings are covered, on the open side of the seats, by an annular plate In, which is convenientl interlocked with the plate f, as by means of bent prongs k, struck up from the annular plate k and adapted to enter elongated slots f formed in the plate 7', the slots being elongated in parallelism and the prongs also standing in parallelism. The annular plate is slightly domfed, as at 70 to give clearance over the end of the corresponding shaft of the clock train. The elongated bushing f is preferably slightly flanged and is extended through both plates 7 and is when they are in working relation.

The enameled dial plate e is centered on the plate g by pins g which are fixed in the plate 9 and pass through holes formed in the plate 6 before it is enameled and the dial plate is then held loosely in place by the therefor in the respective plates f and g.

pointers d, (P, etc. which are secured to the respective shafts 0, 0 etc.

In assembling the clock train the bushings f are first placed in the seats f prepared The several shafts c, 0 etc. with their respective gears c are then placed in the bushings of one of the plates, as g, which is held with the countersunk seats f uppermost, the annular locking plate 16 having. been placed in position as hereinafter described with respect to the locking plate l0.v The frame plate f is then placed in position on the posts It, its bushings f receiving the ends of the shafts c 0 etc. The locking plate k is then applied, with its prongs or fingers l0 entering the slots of the plate .7 and is pushed to one side to cause the prongs or fingers to en'- gage the plate 7. The elongated bushing f is then pressed'into the registering openings formed therefor in the plates f and 72, thereby preventing theslipping back of the looking plate is. It will be'understood that the manner of applying the locking plate 70 to the plate 9 is the same as that already described with respect to the locking plate 70, the locking plate k of course, being slotted .havin or provided with apertures, as at 10 to receive the several shafts.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a register, the combination of a clock train, a supporting frame having spaced supporting plates, one of such plates having counter-sunk recesses and elongated slots, bushings in the seats of the supporting plate, and a locking plate to cover and retain the bushings in their seats and'h'aving prongs to enter the slots of the supporting plate and engage the supporting plate.

2. In a register, the combination of a clock train, a supporting frame having spaced supporting plates, one of such plates counter-sunk recesses and elongated slots, ushings in the seats of the supporting plate, a lockingplate to cover and retain the bushings in their seats and having prongs to enter the slots of the supporting plate and engage the supporting plate, and means to prevent the'locking plate from being slipped back to disengage the prongs from! the sup porting plate.

3. In a register, the combination of a clock train, a supporting frame having spaced supporting plates, one of such plates having counter-sunk recesses and elongated slots, bushings in theseats of the supporting plate, a locking plate to cover and retain the bushings in their seats and having prongs to enter the slots of the supporting plate and engage the supporting plate, and an elongated bushing to receive one of the shafts of the clock train, such elongated bushing entering registering openings in the supporting plate and in the locking plate to prevent the looking plate from being slipped back to disengage the prongs from the supporting plate.

This specification signed this 26 day of- August A. D. 1920.

WILLIAM L. MAR-DEN. 

